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Sania & Co. win silver
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Hockey eves
lose to Japan
Freeloaders to the fore
Poor start by grapplers
Bhullar lies tied fourth
Sailors in hunt for medal
Chappel should remain coach
till World Cup: Ranbir
Kiwis stumble to controversial win
Pawar not to contest BCCI poll again
Dharmani props up Punjab
Ronel win table
tennis title
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Sania & Co. win silver
Doha, December 9 The Indian team comprising Sania Mirza and Shikha Uberoi had to be content with the silver medal after the men’s team, comprising veteran doubles specialists Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, failed to win any medal. Taipei took control of the proceedings from the beginning with Su Wei Hsieh sweeping Shikha off her feet in the first singles with a 6-2, 7-5 victory in 80 minutes. Shikha committed a number of unforced errors in the first set but raised hopes of a spirited fightback in the second when she bounced back from a 1-5 deficit to level the scores 5-5. But a few costly blunders from Shikha left Hsieh off the hook and give her team a 1-0 lead, much to the dismay of Indian supporters who braved the chilly conditions and the gusty winds to cheer the players right through the contest. With the Indians trailing, the pressure was squarely on Sania, ranked 67th in the world, to retrieve the situation and she responded brilliantly by spanking Yung Jan Chang with a facile 6-2, 6-2 victory. The Hyderabadi girl unleashed a series of winners to leave her Taipei opponent in a daze and wrapped up the contest in just 59 minutes to restore parity. In the crucial doubles, the Indian pair of Sania and Uberoi virtually went neck and neck with the rival due till an unforced error saw Taipei clinching the first set 7-6 after a long duel of 54 minutes. The Indians completely lost the plot in the second set to go down tamely 1-6 in just 26 minutes to give Taipei the gold medal in the event. Lee-Hesh move up
India’s Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi posted a convincing 6-0, 6-4 victory over Hui Tung Yu and W L W Wong of Hong Kong to advance into the second round of the men’s doubles tennis competition at the Asian Games here today. In the next round, they will meet Mohammed Ghareeb and Ahmad Mohammad of Kuwait. Another Indian pair of Rohan Bopanna and Mustafa Ghouse decimated Abdulrahaman Shehab and Abdul Latif Mohammed of Bahrain 6-2 6-1. The Indians will take on Hsin Han Lee and Wang Cheng Hsieh of Chinese Taipei in the next round. In women’s doubles, India’s Ankita Bhambri and Rushmi Chakravarthi edged past Mai Huynh Huynh and Viet Ha Ngo of Vietnam 6-3 6-3 to march to the round of 16. They will next meet Akiko Morigami and Aiko Nakamura for a place in last eight. Shikha in last 16
Shikha Uberoi beat Linda Ahmad of Bahrain 2-1 to move into the pre-quarterfinals of the women’s singles tennis event at the Asian Games here today. Shikha won 6-3, 6-7, 7-5. Bopanna shocked
India’s woes in men’s tennis continued at the Asian Games with the country’s number one singles player and eighth seed Rohan Bopanna crashing out with a shocking straight set defeat to unfancied Sun Peng of China in the first round here on Saturday. Bopanna, ranked 277th in the world, played timidly against a player ranked more than 400 places below him and was beaten 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32.
— PTI
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Soma, Shobha, Santhi
Doha, December 9 Soma logged 5675 points in the seven-event discipline held over two days while national record holder Shobha accumulated 5662 points to finish behind gold medal winner Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan (5955). Shobha fell well below her personal and India best of 6211 points she had created in March, 2004, at Delhi. Santhi ran a well-judged though slow race to pick up the silver in the women’s 800m clocking 2 minutes, 3.16 seconds. The gold went to Mariam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain who romped home in 2:01.79 and the bronze was claimed by Kazakhistan’s Viktoriya Yalovtseva in 2:03.19. Another Indian in the 800m fray, Sinimole Paulose finished fifth but had the satisfaction of recording a personal best timing of 2:03.76. In the men’s long jump event, Shiv Shankar Yadav finished seventh with a leap of 7.64 m after starting with two foul jumps. The gold medal in the event went to Saudi Arabia’s Hussain Taher Al-Saba who jumped 8.02 while Kuwait’s Saleh Al Hadad (7.88) and Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Faez Bin Marzouq (7.85) claimed the silver and bronze medals respectively. Meanwhile, Pinki Parmanik and Manjeet Kaur qualified for the final of the women’s 400m race, finishing second in their respective heats of the Asian Games here today. Pinki, who had given impressive performances through the Asian Grand Prix series in May, timed 53.90s to be placed behind leader Olga Threshkova of Kazaksthan who led the heat by clocking 53.30s. The Indian’s personal best in this event is 51.50s. Manjeet Kaur, Asia champion in Incheon, Korea, last year, timed 53.95s to finish second behind Asami Tanno of Japan, who returned 53.94s to lead heat two. The 24-year-old Indian had timed 53.21s in the Delhi trials prior to the departure for Muscat for a training programme in the run-up to the games.
— PTI, UNI
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Rana fires verbal volley
New Delhi, December 9 Rana, who is planning to join politics, also minced no words in stating that shooters would “not tolerate” if their grievances were not heard in future.
Rana won individual gold medals in 25 m men’s standard and centre fire pistol events while leading the team to gold and silver medals, respectively, in the two events. The Indian shooters won as many as 14 medals compare to just two silver medals at the last edition in Busan. The 30-year-old said the Indians could have won 10-12 gold medals and not just three if they were given enough facilities. “Today, with limited facilities we have attained this glory. We have missed some gold medals by decimals but with good coaching we could have returned with 10-12 gold medals instead of three,” he said. Rana, who was suffering from fever and dizziness during the competition, said the Sports Authority of India and the government could not be credited with his success. “There was no help from the SAI or the government but the National Rifle Association of India and coach Sunny Thomas stood by me all along. “When I was down with fever, the coach and NRAI General Secretary BS Sethi gave me the moral support to compete,” said Rana, who fetched the first Asian Games shooting gold medal for India in 12 years. “The federation has blind faith in me. They said I have the fire in me to make it possible. I was not well but then I decided to concentrate on my technical aspect,” he added. Planning to join politics, Rana is planning to take a break by skipping the Nationals beginning on December 14 in Indore. Asked what was his next target, he said, “The Olympics”, although his pet event 25 mt standard and centre fire pistol are not part of the Olympic Games.
— PTI
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Hockey eves
lose to Japan
Doha, December 9 The defeat has virtually put an end to India’s hopes of making it to the final of the tournament as they are in the third position with a match against strong contenders South Korea left. The Japanese shot into the lead as early as the sixth minute through a field goal from Tomomi Komori. Three minutes later, the Japanese consolidated their position when Kaori Chiba produced another field goal.
— PTI
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Freeloaders to the fore
Doha, December 9 An SAI Secretary has been camping here since November 29. His main responsibility is to oversee administration of the Indian contingent, though the chef-de-mission also performs more or less the same job. After he was denied access to various venues due to his limited accreditation, he pleaded with the high-ups in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to treat him as an “extra official”. He stayed at the Athletes Village here for a few days and then returned to India via Dubai. He again landed here yesterday, but no one knows what for. The official was responsible for the large-scale transfer of SAI coaches in 2005, thus creating more than a ripple in the sports centres across the country. SAI Director-General R. Wattal was also here, but only for few days. L.S. Ranawat, one of the SAI Executive Directors, also came as part of the kabaddi delegation. It is said that Ranawat, who belongs to Rajasthan, got his trip because he is close to Kabaddi Federation of India President J.S. Gehlot, also a native of Rajasthan. Controversial SAI official Prem Chand Kashyap, who has been suspended many times and is now holding charge of Executive Director (team preparation) landed here yesterday along with SAI Deputy Director R.K. Naidu. Although Doha may not be that important for them as, say, any European city would be, these officials are just enjoying a free trip on government expense. One common plea that sports officials are heard saying is that since Delhi is to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, they are here to become familiar with the policies and procedures as how best to organise multiple-discipline sports extravaganzas. The other day, ace pistol shooter Jaspal Rana, who won three gold and a silver here, had criticised SAI officials for not providing ammunition to him before coming to Doha. Sources in the IOA say that many more SAI officials wanted to visit Doha as delegates but their names were excluded at last minute.
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Poor start by grapplers
Doha, December 9 Ravinder Singh had started off well by getting the better of Iraq’s Jassim Ahmed 3-0 in three minutes, 40 seconds but lost his quarterfinal match against China’s Jiang Shen 1-3 before losing his repechage bout to bow out. He was totally outclassed in the 60 kg repechage event by his much superior Uzbekistan rival, Aripov Dilshod, who won 3-0. Syria’s Al Ken Muhammad proved technically far superior to Anil Kumar as the Indian lost tamely 5-0 in the 96 kg class repechage contest. In the 96 kg category, Anil Kumar fell by the wayside as he lost 0-3 to Iran’s Mosoud Hashem Zadeh in the preliminary round. Later, he lost to Syrian Muhammad and made his exit. In the 74 kg, India’s Sanjay lost to Japan’s Taichi Suga 1-3 in his first bout. The Japanese grappler attacked from the start against a defensive Sanjay. Women archers disappoint
Indian women got off to a disappointing start as all four of them finished way down the leaderboard at the end of the first day’s action in the individual qualification round (FITA) of the archery competition at the Asian Games here today. After two rounds, 70m and 60 m, the Indian quartet of Reena Kumari, Dola Banerjee, Punya Prabha and Chekrovolu Swuro were placed 17th, 18th, 27th and 29th , respectively. Twenty two-year-old Reena had a total of 619, of which she shot 305 in 70m and 314 in 60m. The Indian hit the bull’s eye four times while she had 20 10-pointers. Her more experienced team-mate Dola Banerjee was four points and a slot behind. Dola totalled 615, 308 in 70m and 307 in 60m. She had four golden hits and 13 10-pointers. Punya Prabha, at 27th slot, had a total of 591. She shot poorly in 70m in which she had 291 points but improved in 60m with 300 points. She hit the golden eye seven times while firing 14 10-pointers. Another Indian, Chekrovolu Swuro struggled for her 590 score which placed her at 29th slot. She had 278 in 70m and 299 in 60m. Swuro failed to hit the bull’s eye even once while she had eight 10-pointers. Another loss in sepak takraw
India’s embarrassing sequence of defeats in sepak takraw continued as the team suffered a 0-2 defeat at the hands of Malaysia in a regu group match at the Al-Sadd Indoor Hall here today. The Indians expectedly surrendered tamely against the Malaysians who recorded an easy 21-7, 21-7 victory in a contest lasting just 25 minutes. With this defeat, the Indians are languishing at the fourth position in the table with two points from three matches. In a women’s group regu match, India lost to strong contenders Korea 15-21, 13-21 in a contest lasting 34 minutes. The women’s team finished at the last position in the four-team group without being able to get any points after completing their league engagements.
— PTI, UNI
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Bhullar lies tied fourth
Doha, December 9 The Indian team, meanwhile, took its tally to 421 after the completion of the second round. Bhullar’s 70 was matched by Joseph Chakola, who was tied for the 19th spot with a total of one-under 143. Yesterday’s top-performer Anirban Lahiri was not in his elements today as he finished over-par to drop to the tied 12th spot. His 73 took his tally to two-under 142. Chiragh Kumar carded a consecutive 71 saw him at the tied eighth spot after the end of the second round with a two-day total of two-under 142. In the women’s section, Meghna Bal was once again the pick of the Indians as she carded a three-under 70 to total five-under 141 after two rounds to retain her seventh spot. The Indian women’s team ended the day at the fourth spot with a total of 286 after two rounds. South Korea are at the top of the leaderboard with a total of 271.
— UNI
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Sailors in hunt for medal
Doha, December 9 The five yachtsmen were gunning for the title having won seven out of the nine races logging seven penalty points in head-to-head races till yesterday. They were level with joint leaders Singapore, to whom they lost in the preliminary phase.
— PTI
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India too good for Rest
Potchefstroom, December 9 Rest of South Africa reached 149 for four at tea and were led by an attractive 60 by Vaughn van Jaarsveld and his unbroken 74-run fifth wicket stand with Jutsin Kemp (33). But once Sreesanth engineered the run-out of Van Jaarsveld, the innings unravelled pretty quickly, and the game was sewn up with more than a day to spare.Zaheer Khan followed up his success before lunch with the scalp of Jean Paul Duminy whom he bowled between gates for 20 runs. Young VRV Singh then followed up the success with twin strike off successive balls, first winning a leg before verdict against Alviro Petersen (22) and then clean bowling More van Wyk with the one which rolled on to the stumps after hitting high on the bat. India’s fielding though came in for close scrutiny as the players were guilty of several misfields. Sachin Tendulkar dropped a top edge off Van Jaarsveld’s bat after the batsman had attempted a sweep. Harbhajan Singh, introduced for the first time in the day, was the aggrieved bowler. Van Jaarsveld was unbeaten on a run a ball 60 and Kemp, if anything, was more aggressive in smashing 33 off 23 balls with two huges sixes. — Agencies Scoreboard India (1st innings) 316-7 Rest of SA (1st innings) 138 India (2nd innings) Sehwag lbw Thomas 10 Jaffer c Van Wyk b Thomas 0 Laxman c Duminy b Thomas 31 Tendulkar lbw Hayward 12 Ganguly c van Jaarsveld b Hayward 0 Dhoni c Kemp b Thomas 16 Pathan not out 40 Harbhajan lbw Thomas 0 Zaheer c Van Wyk b Thomas 3 Sreeesanth c van Wyk b De Wet 13 VRV c Adams b Thomas 6 Extras (b-4, lb-2, w-2, nb-3) 11 Total (all out, 53.4 overs) 142 Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-14, 3-33, 4-33, 5-55, 6-93, 7-93, 8-97, 9-134. Bowling: Morkel 17-5-44-0, Thomas 21.4-6-56-7, Hayward 7-3-13-2, De Wet 8-3-23-1. Rest of SA (2nd innings) Rudolph b Zaheer 0 Petersen lbw VRV 22 Paul Duminy b Zaheer 20 Van Jaarsveld run out 66 Van Wyk b Harbhajan 0 Kemp c Dhoni b Zaheer 53 Thomas c Ganguly b Harbhajan 15 Adams c Gambhir b Harbhajan 0 Morkel c Dhoni b Sehwag 26 De Wet lbw Harbhajan 0 Hayward not out 1 Extras (b-11, lb-5, w-1, nb-4) 21 Total (all out, 48.5 overs) 224 Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-36, 3-75, 4-75, 5-17, 6-183, 7-183, 8-218, 9-218. Bowling: Zaheer 12-5-36-3, Sreesanth 10-2-46-0, VRV Singh 8-0-41-2, Pathan 4-0-31-0, Harbhajan 12-4-39-3, Sehwag 2.5-0-15-1.
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Chappel should remain coach
till World Cup: Ranbir Ambala, December 9 He said no doubt the Indian cricket team was one of the best cricket teams of the world but its poor performance in the recent matches against South Africa hurt the sentiments of Indian cricket lovers. He said it was the feeling among the people that the Indian players did not play with team spirit but for their individual performance. He said there was a lack of devotion and killer instinct among the Indian players during the matches. He said the cricket was, however, a game of chance. When asked whether Mr Chappel should be allowed to express his view against the proceeding of the Indian Parliament for which he was condemned by some senior parliamentarians, he said he should confine himself to cricket activities, for which he was appointed. He said during his period as the Chairman of the BCCI a review committee was constituted under his chairmanship which was authorised to review the performance of the team and the coach after every three months, but as soon as Mr Shard Pawar was elected the new Chairman of the BCCI the review committee was discontinued.
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Kiwis stumble to controversial win
Christchurch, December 9 But New Zealand then lost five wickets as they struggled to deal with champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, who took three of New Zealand’s second innings wickets for a match haul of seven for 99. However, the Test will be remembered for the way the spinner was dismissed to end Sri Lanka’s second innings. The tailender was run out when he completed a single to give Kumar Sangakkara his century and immediately turned and ran back up the wicket to congratulate the mainstay of the Sri Lankan innings. But Muralitharan did not realise the ball was still in play, allowing wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum the easiest of dismissals, while raising questions about the sportsmanship of the New Zealanders. The Sri Lankans could claim the run out was not within the spirit of the game. But New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said it was within the law and the Sri Lankan paid the price for making a mistake. “It was pretty disappointing that it takes the gloss off what I thought was a fantastic 100 by
Sangakkara, but the ball was still alive and the game doesn’t stop when a player gets 100,” Fleming said. “To my mind the ball’s still alive and ... certainly in the cut-throat environment of this competition it’s a mistake you can’t afford to make on their behalf,” Fleming said.
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Pawar not to contest BCCI poll again
New Delhi, December 9 “After this tenure is over, I shall not take this responsibility. After this two-year tenure, I shall aid the game and other members,” said Pawar currently serving his second term in the high-profile job. Asked why he agreed to head the sports body when he was already actively involved in politics, he said, “I agreed to contest after requests from many people to take up the responsibility of the BCCI. “When I first contested elections in 2004, I lost. I had only one problem at that time. The bowler and the umpire were same. And when you have an umpire-bowler combination, you are bound to lose your wicket. I lost my wicket,” he told a weekly chat show programme of BBC Hindi, referring to his adversary Jagmohan Dalmiya. “In the next elections, we prepared ourselves and won with unprecedented margins. And in recent elections, I won unopposed.” Pawar stoutly defended coach Greg Chappell. “He has worked as a coach, this impression has been given by all the players. I have spoken to all players many times and all have said his performance is good because he has helped improve their game quality.” On whether Chappell’s contract would be extended beyond the World Cup in March-April next year, he said, “it will be difficult to speak on his contract because this is the board’s decision in the end.”
— PTI |
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Dharmani props up Punjab
Mohali, December 9 The batting mainstay of the hosts proved his worth with a valuable innings, guiding his team out of choppy waters. He finished the day at an unbeaten 67 as Punjab were 220 for 6 at close on the first day of the third Super League Ranji Trophy (Elite Group B) game at the PCA Stadium against Mumbai here today. After suffering a sudden reverse in the first game and them having been ambushed by poor weather in the second game, Punjab batting needed to fire. Put in by Mumbai, Punjab were off to a confident though sedate start. Mumbai seamers Swapnil Hazare and Mandeep Mungela bowled with a lot of discipline and control. Working up a tidy line and length on a surface which produced good bounce and movement, they kept both the in-form openers under check. Last match’s centurion Ricky was in fine nick and played most of the strokes with the middle of the bat. Though he was kept quite, he did not lose out on any scoring opportunities. Thanks to cautious batting by the openers, Punjab went into the lunch break without any loss of wicket. Both openers carried on in a similar fashion after the break but lost the plot in the face of persistence shown by the rival seamers. Karan Goel was scalped by seamer Wilkin Mota when the batsman was batting on 38. The loss of this wicket opened the floodgates as Punjab lost a couple of wickets in a jiffy. From a confident position of 83 without loss, the hosts slumped to 100 for four as lanky left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni combined with Hazare to jolt the opposition. Hazare first cut short the stay of Ricky when the batsman looked good for another big score. Dinesh Mongia, back after playing in the ODI series in South Africa, disappointed and became the second victim of Hazare. The batsman failed to get off the mark. After the fall of these wickets, it was left to Dharmani to salvage the situation. And the veteran batsman did it in style. Playing stokes with ease, he came up with a knock of immense value to his side. Later, he found a willing ally in all-rounder Ishan Malhotra as the two took the score past the 200-run mark. Malhotra was on the crease with unbeaten 19-ball 22 as the bad light stopped play more than half an hour before the scheduled time. Punjab went into the match without experienced Reetinder Sodhi and Love Ablish. Sodhi is suffering from acute tendinitis in his left foot. The injury has ruled him out of at least for two games. Sodhi sprained his left foot while bowling and has been advised complete rest. Wiry Ablish, who bowled beautifully in the previous game, had fever in the morning paving the way for Amardeep Singh to make his debut. Scoreboard Punjab (1st innings) Ricky c and b Hazare 46 Goel c Sawant b Mota 38 Gupta c Sawant b Kulkarni 8 Dharmani batting 67 Mongia c Sawant b Hazare 0 Kaul c Mota b Mungela 25 Uniyal c Sawant b Mungela 2 Malhotra batting 22 Extras
(nb-5, b-5, lb-2) 12 Total (6 wkts, 76 overs) 220 Fall of
wickets: 1-83, 2-100, 3-100, 4-100, 5-186, 6-192 Bowling: S Hazare 15-4-45-2, Mandeep Mungela 18-4-46-2, Wilkin Mota 14-2-55-1, Nilesh Kulkarni 13-5-22-1, Ramesh Powar 16-4-45-0.
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Ronel win table tennis title Patiala, December 9 Mr Nazar Singh, Assistant Commissioner, local municipal corporation, declared the one-day tournament open. Mr K.K Aggarwal, General Manager (projects), Northern region (2), gave away the prizes. The technical expertise for holding the tournament was provided by Mr Bhawani Mukherjee, Chief Coach (table tennis),
NIS.
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